Volume: 7  Number: 1  Page: 15–43  doi:10.2167/joe185.0

Internet-based Ecotourism Marketing: Evaluating Canadian Sensitivity to Ecotourism Tenets

Holly M. Donohoe and Roger D. Needham Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada

The internet is providing a new and important electronic commerce medium for tourism. In the ecotourism case, it provides the primary mechanism for promoting ecotourism opportunities (providers) and for researching and planning ecotourism experiences (consumers). As a matter of concern, the literature establishes that the congruency of traditional ecotourism marketing with established ecotourism tenets is limited. Ecotourism may be on a ‘precarious course’ whereby the natural environment, long-term sustainability and legitimacy of the industry are at risk. The scale of the internet and its use to promote ‘disingenuous’ ecotourism products may accelerate negative outcomes. However, our understanding of internet-based ecotourism marketing – both delivery and outcomes – is limited. Through the application of a content analysis frame-work, this paper assesses the congruency of internet-based ecotourism marketing with ecotourism tenets. The study finds the use of the term ‘ecotourism’ and its tenets to market tourism experiences is a well-established internet-based marketing activity, and congruency between ecotourism tenets and ecotourism marketing messages is contentious amongst the Canadian sample providers. It supports antecedent claims that disingenuous ecotourism marketing is the norm, not the exception. Recommendations for improving marketing success, long-term sustainability of the industry and delivery of ‘genuine’ ecotourism products are presented.

Keywords: Canadian ecotourism, content analysis, internet, key ten-ets, marketing

© 2008 H.M. Donohoe & R.D. Needham

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